A VC Perspective: Drone Technology Changing The Face Of Robotics Revolution The largest use of drones and robots is in defense and industrial manufacturing, increasing the global market share from 14% to 28%
By Anjli Jain
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Machines play an important role in our lives. Computers, mobiles, ATMs, sensors are all machines tackling the everyday array of varied tasks with autonomy and intelligence. Have you ever heard about a robot that feeds your pet when you're away from home or a robot helping you train at boxing? Everywhere we turn, the robot revolution is in motion.
Look at how far we have come since the first generation of aerial robots with manned systems where a pilot would sit in the cockpit but now the airplane can stay in the air for several hours, days, months and even years on autopilot mode. It may seem surprising to us today but with the expansion of robotics, we are stepping into a new world where everything would be run by robots.
Many small, medium and large enterprises have implemented robotics to increase productivity and reduce labor costs. Robotics has become an important platform to customize tasks for the end-users in industries like automotive, electronics, agriculture, aerospace, military, machinery etc. Eventually, robotics will reshape the history of war and politics and maybe even humanity. What we used to know about technology before has changed into better-equipped machines, in size and proliferation, playing a role in both war and civilian life.
The Economic Impact Of Drone Technology
Looking at the history, it was the expansion of the military's use of drones which made it a big part of the robotics revolution. A 2012 survey showed that the highest rate of deployment of drone technology was done by the military, with 86 countries specializing in utilizing military robots for experiments, to help develop the next generation of advanced systems.
Drones which are also known as UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) or remotely piloted aircraft, are used for military, research and recreational means. They also play an important role as consumer quadcopters for photography and can also come in handy for tracking down poachers. The government can use the same technology for conducting high-end missions to meet the threats by putting a stop to communication and take away GPS signals in lieu of any attack.
The largest use of drones and robots is in defense and industrial manufacturing, increasing the global market share from 14% to 28%. According to a recent survey, the sensors for drones and robots market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 12.4% reaching a total revenue of US $709 million by 2021. Another study shows that the economic implications by 2025 will witness the rise of an estimated account of $82 billion in national airspace and economic growth.
We all have noticed that the major ripple effect of drone technology commercially has been on the diversification and expansion of the agricultural sector. Agriculture has benefited from the Drone technology, effectively feeding and hydrating plants, doing field analysis to assess the health of the crops and various other purposes. This has helped transform the agricultural methods to a great degree, maximizing production and returns in farming.
Similarly, construction industries have benefited from the drone technologywhich provides them with real-time live video feeds for site inspection and helps them to analyze site logistic, run surveys, create project process reports thereby enhancing accuracy and speeding up the construction process making it more economical.
Why Should You Invest?
As a tech investor, I believe that the drone space will see a major boom in the coming years. It has already made a huge impact on the commercial sectors all over the world, tapping into the potential that is hard to achieve with the manual labor force. However, few of the many reasons why this is the best time to invest in drone technology are:
- The drone industry will witness the powerful economic impact worth $82 billion in the next 10 years thereby creating new jobs.
- Post military spends, agriculture and commercial will be the next industry flowing with high-end opportunities in the coming years and expanding the drone market by a wide angle.
- The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations haveopened the gates for the commercial drone industry.
The Bottom Line Is
As drone technology evolves and grows, it will not be long when the consumer drone industry outgrows the commercial one. We can already see how it is impacting major industries around the globe and will very soon become a part of our homes, thereby increasing the support and investments made by the government and many venture capital firms like us. It is a crucial step in the fourth industrial revolution which is taking place as we speak. Of course, there are challenges which may come along but this revolution is inevitable and will change the outlook we have on life and our environment as we know it.
